Demand response manages customer’s consumption of electricity, to help control and stabilize supply conditions. As you can see from the chart below, there are peaks in energy consumption throughout the day when energy is demanded the most. Peaks are especially high in certain month, such as summer, when consumers are using energy sucking appliances like air conditioners. Demand response also helps prevent outages or blackouts, which is a result of the demand being too high to meet. Basic economics will tell you that as demand increases, price increases; the same goes for energy consumption. At the peaks of consumption, consumers are actually paying more for their energy than they would at off peak times. If used correctly, demand response can significantly decrease the peaks in consumption, which lowers the price for consumers.
It’s really as simple as turning off a light when it isn’t needed, but demand response can be taken much farther. With today’s technology, it is easier for consumers to manage their energy use and use demand response to their advantage. There are many “smart” appliances that actually help consumers respond to demand without much effort. Appliances such as dishwashers and washing machines can actually be programmed on a timer so consumers can manage their energy use. Instead of using appliances on peak hours, consumers can program their appliances to run at off peak hours, which not only cuts down their costs but also helps the demand of energy consumption. Newer air conditioners are also made to make it easy for consumers to respond to energy demand. Instead of having the AC run all day, it’s easy to program your air conditioner to turn off once your room reaches a certain temperature, which cuts down the demand in the summer time. Pre-cooling buildings on off peak times also help lower demand. For the really tech-savvy people out there, you can actually make your house a “smart house” and have the ability to control every appliance with the click of a finger, which makes it incredibly easy to cut back your electricity consumption.
Responding to demand is fairly simple. Although we do have all of this technology out there that makes it easier, it’s just an added convenience and isn’t really needed to make a difference. Like I said before, it’s as easy as flipping off a light switch.
Nice post, and nice visual, though I wonder where it came from. Hopefully people will get smarter about using their energy more efficiently, not just because it’s less of a strain on our wallets.